Farewell to Larry King! Welcome to the new breed of broadcasters!
Kaieteur News – A new era of broadcasting has emerged but will a new breed of broadcasters arise. There are now a host of radio stations, following radio liberalization first by the PPP / C and then by the APNU + AFC.
Unfortunately, not enough attention has been given to developing a pool of broadcasters from which these new stations may have drawn. Too many deejays master as broadcasters.
Fortunately for Kaieteur Radio, some of the journalists with Kaieteur News have made a lovely transition to radio. I am very impressed with Kemol King’s acumen in interviews; Kiana Wilburg is thorough and knowledgeable about the topics she covers; and Shikema Dey and Mikaila Prince have voices made for radio.
I encourage them to continue to refine their broadcasting skills. And there can be no better role model to imitate than Larry King who passed away last weekend.
CNN’s Larry King is one of the best television interviewers around him. He conducts his shows with complete control. You will never find Larry going to exchange an opinion or argument with his guests.
King allows his guests to do most of the talking and give the opinion. He limits himself to asking questions. It’s raining. He teases responses from his guests.
If he needs to face them on an issue, you’ll never find Larry standing aggressively and contradicting his guests. He would simply say, ‘But how do you respond to those who say … ”This is his style.
In Guyana, we have some radio and TV hosts who feel that the program they are running is for them to give their own opinions. They try to engage in tit-for-tat with their guests.
This is a style imitated from the BBC’s Hard Conversation program where the host tries to put the guests in the hot seat. We do not need to do that in Guyana.
But often, we have guests who are trying to shine the light, trying to enforce their opinions, thereby reducing the quality of the interview.
A few years ago, one of Guyana’s leading lights appeared on a local TV show. At his end, the host spoke more than the legal luminary. This was a real turn-off, because it was an opportunity to hear one of Guyana’s foremost legal thoughts, and, instead, the interviewer gave his opinion more than the interviewee did. The next time that host appeared; I simply switched off, as it was hard to endure that again.
An entire generation of broadcasters has gone off the scene. Most have retired, emigrated or gone to the Great Beyond. Some do not know when to call it a day. They continue the same old style and play the same old music, as they did in the 1970s and 1980s, without realizing that the essence of radio stamina has changed.
We have a new generation that needs the necessary training in modern broadcasting. The media has changed from the old days, and while there are some things, which can still be learned by the old-timers, an entirely new set of skills is needed.
Today, there are all sorts of people who feel that once they get the necessary sponsorship and can play a few music videos, they qualify as TV hosts.
In the case of radio, there is an urgent need for good producers. Local radio at night has become a bit of a drag, because not enough effort and resources are channeled into producing good programs for listeners.
Things are changing too. There used to be a time when it took great skill for all death announcements to be included in the time available. A few nights ago, there was only one death announcement on the radio and one message.
Radio still has more reach than television. And yet, television death announcements are larger than those broadcast on radio.
More investment is needed in producing good local radio programs for peak-time listening. Playing a musical interlude or simply having programs that are nothing more than musicals can only replace an interesting interview, a pop-in show where the audience is involved or just some educational or discussion program.
Gone are the days when you could look forward to a sports program. Most of them these days involve being interviewed, a very boring format for an exciting field like sports broadcasting.
Radio is not going to disappear. What will go, unless good programs are produced, is the audience. Who knows, maybe most listeners have already made a permanent switch to television.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.)